An electronic messaging system typically allocates message inboxes of fixed size to the users of the messaging service. This is due in part to the limited amount of storage space available on a server computer to store all exchanged messages. Typically, modern corporations impose storage limits per user to limit the number of servers required and to reduce the cost of maintaining said servers. In the event a user receives a large number of messages or the user does not regularly retrieve received messages, there is the possibility the capacity of the user's mailbox will be exceeded and the mailbox will not be able to receive any incoming mail. As a result, the sender of the message loses the ability to leave further messages for the intended user.
Many voice and/or multimedia messaging systems have warning announcements that are provided to the user to advise them when the maximum storage capacity of the mailbox is being approached. However, such a feature is irrelevant if the user is not readily available to access the mailbox displaying the announcement. As a result, the maximum storage capacity of the mailbox can be reached during the time period when the user is not readily available to access the mailbox and any additional incoming mail will not be received.